Walmart Inks 14 Contracts to Invest USD 2.29 Billion in China

Wal-Mart Stores Inc will continue to increase its investment in Guangdong province, as it plans to add more than 40 new stores and one fresh food distribution center in the province in the next five years. The US retail giant signed an agreement for strategic cooperation on its business expansion plan with Guangdong provincial government on Thursday [20 April 2017]…Full Article: China Daily Apr 2017

In April 2017, Walmart announced plans to open 15 new stores in Hubei Province over the next three years. Walmart currently had 30 stores in Hubei Province at the time.

In March 2017, Walmart stated they hoped to open 30 to 40 new stores in China, including the to five Sam’s Club stores. In 2016, Walmart opened 24 new stores (21 were hypermarkets) and three new Sam’s Club stores.

In November 2016, Walmart opened 5 new stores including in Shanxi, Hunan, Yunnan, and Tianjin. In total, both Changsha (Hunan Province) and Tianjin have 4 stores, while Kunming (Yunnan Province) has 12 stores. Regarding Sam’s Club, as of November 2016, Walmart had 14 Sam’s Clubs in China, with its Shenzhen store being its best-performing branch worldwide.

In October 2016, Walmart’s share in JD.com rose from 5.9% to 10.8%. During the same month, select Walmart stores announced they would deliver groceries via JD.com’s new Dada online service. Initially, New Dada’s two-hour delivery service for Walmart stores will be for customers within a 3 km [~1.86 miles] of 20 select stores. Walmart currently has 426 stores located in nearly 170 Chinese cities.

In July 2016, Walmart announced plans to open 115 stores (including some Sam’s Club stores) in China by 2017. During the same month, it was reported that executives from both Walmart and JD.com meet weekly to discuss their retail strategy in mainland China.

In June 2016, Walmart sold Yihaodian (e-commerce grocery website) to JD.com in exchange for a 5% stake in JD.com. As part of the deal, JD.com (backed by Tencent Holdings) will open an online store for Walmart’s Sam Club. Both companies will also cooperate on logistics (supply chain and delivery services).

As of early 2016, Walmart had developed three brands in China including its hypermarket series (420 stores), Sam’s Club stores (12), and the e-commerce site Yihaodian (~130 million registered users).